A diabetic patient measures blood sugar level several times a day by himself. In a hospital, blood sugar levels of diabetic patients are measured several tens of times a day. During the measurement, it is necessary to collect a small amount of blood from a fingertip or the like. Therefore, conventionally, a disposable puncture needle 1706 having a needle part 1705 as shown in FIG. 17(a) is attached to a puncture instrument 1700 as shown in FIG. 16, and a fingertip or arm is punctured with the puncture needle 1706, and blood collected from the punctured region is used for measurement.
The general puncture instrument 1700 comprises a cylindrical body 1701, and a cap 1713. The cylindrical body 1701 is provided with a first spring 1703 for projecting the attached puncture needle 1706, a second spring 1704 for backing the projected puncture needle 1706, and a puncture button 1702 for releasing the compressed first spring 132.
The puncture instrument 1700 is used as follows. The cap 1713 is removed from the body 1701 of the puncture instrument 1700, and the puncture needle 1706 from which a plastic cover 1709 is removed as shown in FIG. 17(a) is attached to an elastic claw 1712 of a slider 1711 in the body 1701, and then the cap 1713 is put on the body 1701 again. Then, the first spring 1703 is compressed to make a puncture operation ready state, and thereafter, a puncture target pressing face 1707 of the cap 1713 is applied to a puncture portion to be a target of puncture such as a fingertip. When the puncture button 1702 is pressed in this state, the compressed first spring 1703 is released and thereby the puncture needle 1706 is projected, and the puncture portion is punctured by the needle part 1705 of the puncture needle 1706. After the puncture, the puncture needle 1706 is immediately moved backward by the second spring 1704. This operation enables collection of blood.
When collecting blood using the puncture instrument 1700 as described above, it is very dangerous from a hygiene viewpoint to reuse the puncture needle 1706 which has once been used for blood collection. Therefore, it is necessary to replace the puncture needle 1706 attached to the puncture instrument 1700 for next use. A removal method is as follows. Initially, the cap 1713 is removed from the body 1701 of the puncture instrument, and thereafter, the puncture needle 1706 is removed from the slider 1711.
The needle part 1705 of the used puncture needle 1706, which is removed from the puncture instrument 1700, is covered with the plastic cover 1709 for protecting the needle part 1705 as shown in FIG. 17(a), and then the puncture needle 1706 must be put in a special bag 1710 as shown in FIG. 17(b) or a box to be discarded (for example, refer to Japanese Published Patent Application 2000-237172 (Pages 3-4, FIG. 1)).
When using the conventional puncture instrument as described above, the user must take a lot of troublesome manual operation steps for handling of the puncture needle and disposal of the puncture needle after use. Therefore, the user is apt to use the puncture needle attached to the puncture instrument several times without replacing the puncture needle at each puncture operation and blood collection.
It must be avoided from a hygiene viewpoint to use one puncture needle plural times, especially, to use one puncture needle for two or more persons. Although such situation may occur in, for example, a doctor's office or a hospital, a case where a child uses the puncture needle by mistake cannot be excluded.
Further, since the puncture needle is fabricated as a disposable one, the tip thereof becomes duller soon by plural times of uses, continuous use of the puncture needle gives severe pain to the patient.
Furthermore, in the conventional constructions of the puncture needle 1706 and the puncture instrument 1700, when attaching or detaching the puncture needle 1706, a lot of troublesome manual operation steps must be carried out, leading to a risk that the patient cannot correctly attach or detach the puncture needle 1706, and a fear that the patient may get hurt by mistake with the needle 1705 of the puncture needle 1706 during operation of attaching or detaching thereof.
When performing the puncture operation, the puncture needle 1706 attached to the puncture instrument 1700 goes back to the initial position immediately after it is moved or displaced toward the puncture target portion (puncture portion) of the patient's body. However, if the puncture needle 1706 is operated under the state where it is not correctly attached to the puncture instrument 1700, the puncture needle 1700 does not correctly operate, resulting in a risk that the patient may get hurt.
There is another conventional puncture instrument which contains plural puncture needles inside, and performs puncture operation by using these needles separately in order. In this instrument, a puncture needle after puncturing can be separately removed from the apparatus. Further, there is a driving means for moving a puncture needle backward and forward, which utilizes an elastic force of a plate spring attached to the puncture needle (for example, refer to U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,926 (pages 3-4, FIG. 1)).
However, automatic replacement of puncture needles using such puncture needle magazine is difficult to be realized in a system where the puncture needle 1706 is closely attached to the slider 1711 to slide the puncture needle forward and backward, like the conventional device shown in FIG. 17. Further, in the case of the system shown in FIG. 17, the needle portion of the puncture needle must be provided with a part for enforcing connected between the puncture needle and the slider 1711. If the above-mentioned puncture needle magazine is used as puncture needles in such construction, the size of the puncture instrument itself is undesirably increased.
Furthermore, in the conventional puncture instrument 1700, when replacing the puncture needle 1706, it is troublesome to discard the puncture needle 1706 every time the puncture needle 1706 is replaced, in addition to that the user must take a lot of troublesome manual operation steps. That is, in the conventional instrument, after the puncture needle 1706 is removed from the puncture instrument 1700 as described above, the user should store the used puncture needle 1706′ in a bag or box 1710, and carry it to a hospital or discard it safely as a burnable waste by himself.
The process of replacing the puncture needle 1706 is particularly troublesome for a patient who is visually handicapped due to complication associated with diabetes.
The present invention is made to solve the above-mentioned problems and has for its object to provide a puncture instrument, a puncture needle cartridge, and a puncture instrument set which can perform continuous puncturing by a simple operation, and have small volume and high safety, and also provide a puncture needle disposal instrument which can easily remove a puncture needle from the puncture instrument by a simple operation to discard it.